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Full text of the letter in English
July 20, 2007
His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of The People’s Republic of China
His Excellency Wen Jiabao
Premier of the State Council
His Excellency Xiao Yang
President of the Supreme People’s Court
His Excellency Jia Chunwang
Procurator-General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate
His Excellency Zhou Yongkang
Minister of Public Security
Minister of Supervision
Her Excellency Wu Aiying
Minister of Justice
c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Dear President Hu:
We write in our capacity as Chairman and Co-Chairman of the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China to express our concern about alleged abuses against Mr. Chen Guangcheng, who was imprisoned in Shandong province late last year. Mr. Chen has reported to his wife and his brother that on June 16, 2007, he was beaten by his fellow inmates at Linyi Prison on the orders of prison police, and then denied medical treatment. These abuses are the latest in a series of official actions targeting Mr. Chen, and depriving him of his civil rights and the protections afforded to him under Chinese law. We request that the government take effective measures to ensure Mr. Chen’s safety.
Mr. Chen is guaranteed safety and freedom from such abuses under several Chinese laws and regulations, as well as international agreements to which China is a signatory. China took a positive step towards demonstrating its commitment to promoting the rule of law when it ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1988. It exercised significant initiative when it later incorporated the protection of prisoner’s rights into various domestic laws and regulations. Your nation’s Prison Law, People's Police Law, and "Six Prohibitions on People's Prison Police" (issued by the Ministry of Justice in February 2006) all explicitly forbid prison police from beating, or instigating others to beat, prison inmates. In addition, Article 248 of the Criminal Law and Item II.5. of "Provisions on the Criteria for Filing Criminal Cases of Dereliction of Duty and Rights Infringement" (issued by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and effective on July 26, 2006) provide the basis for the Linyi People's Procuratorate to exercise its supervisory powers and file a criminal suit against any prison police officer found to be responsible for the beating that took place on June 16.
Mr. Chen suffers from a disability that makes it difficult to look after himself and impossible to guard against being attacked by others while in prison. For humanitarian reasons and on the basis of Article 2(3) of the 1990 Measures on Implementing Medical Parole for Prisoners, the Commission respectfully requests that local prison administration and procuratorate officials give due consideration to his application for medical parole. In the interim, the Commission urges central government leaders to intervene in local government abuses that have gone unchecked for far too long. It is our understanding that Chinese law requires:
the Ministry of Supervision and Ministry of Justice to dispatch investigators to look into the allegations of abuse against Mr. Chen, which took place on June 16, 2007 at Linyi Prison;
the Linyi People’s Procuratorate to hold criminally liable any prison police officers found, by law, to have been involved in the June 16 incident, and to prosecute these individuals under Article 248 of the Criminal Law; and
prison administration officials to grant Mr. Chen immediate medical treatment and access both to his family and to his lawyers.
The world has noted with admiration Mr. Chen’s courage in speaking out against abuses by Linyi family and population planning officials. Mr. Chen has raised these issues peacefully, lawfully, and in the spirit of good citizenship. In return, Yinan county and Linyi city public security, procuratorate, and court officials convicted and imprisoned Mr. Chen through a process that deprived him of many of the procedural protections afforded to him under Chinese law.
Mr. Chen's case is a significant test of criminal justice reform and your nation’s application of the rule of law in specific cases. We encourage his prompt release and that it be accompanied by the full range of remedies available to Mr. Chen and his family under Chinese law, including application for state compensation for the infringement of their rights. We trust that you will similarly help to promote the use of a growing range of administrative and judicial remedies that your laws now appear to offer to those aggrieved parties whom Mr. Chen has championed in the past. It is only through your protection of their legal rights and interests, and with your legitimation of the full range of legal protections contained under Chinese law, that true progress will be assured.
Respectfully,
Sander M. Levin, Chairman Byron L. Dorgan, Co-Chairman
cc: Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs (EAP/CM)
U.S. Department of State
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